Metallica have broken plenty of new ground musically during their long and illustrious history but now they've gone and broken new ground regarding ticket pricing.

The European leg of the Worldwired Tour was announced yesterday with five dates penned in for the UK in October including two at London's O2 Arena with standing tickets priced at a staggering £96.25 (£85.00 Ticket + £11.25 Fees), excluding a per transaction delivery fee, which will be added to the total amount due.

Both Kiss and Iron Maiden play the same venue this summer with standing tickets for the former priced at £63.50 plus unspecified delivery charge and Maiden at an almost identical price.

Here's some select comments from the hundreds of outbursts on social media regarding Metallica ticket prices:

Richard Collins: "At these prices are METALLICA having a laugh? Cause I'm not."

Neil Blackbird Sims: "Metallica have come a long way since their garage days... judging by their ticket prices... a little bit too far... some dad's have sons they would like to take but nearly 200 smackers just for the gig without drinks, a programme and a t-shirt? your 'avin a larf incha????"

Graham Edgar: "Bullshit huge seat prices - fuck you Metallica."

Matt Dew: "Good thing Metallica sued Napster, their live ticket prices are so low they'd be broke as fuck now if they hadn't..."

Chris Diamond Parker: "£96 for standing at Metallica. I like them but you can see three decent bands for the price of one ticket.....fuck that."

In February, Metallica announced that they will play at the 42,000-capacity Ramat Gan Stadium, near Tel Aviv, Israel on May 22nd and when fans saw that most tickets cost more than $150 each, they decided to take action.

Tomer Mussman, a student at the College of Management and Academic Studies in Rishon Le Zion, started a Facebook group called 'Boycott Metallica's Israel Show' and membership grew to more than 6,000 followers in four days, Mussman was subsequently contacted by Metallica's promoter in Israel, Gad Oron, to set up a meeting.

Oron, one of Israel's best-known promoters, spoke with Mussman for four and eventually a deal was struck and ticket prices were slashed by 30% to 40% for the two weeks leading up to March 20th. He said of the petitioners:

"We realized that they are young people who are idealistic. They thought that everybody should be able to be as close to the stage as possible [even if they can't afford tickets for floor seats]. Me and the band made a mutual decision to try this idea for two weeks."

After his victory with Oron, Mussman posted a message on Facebook, saying:

"We are officially asking each and every one of you to stop the boycott, and come and enjoy Metallica's concert with us on May 22nd.”

He added that his success "shows customers and consumers that they do have the power".

Norway's Kvelertak will be support for the European tour run which is listed in full below. No additional shows will be added.

UK tickets are available right here and every ticket purchased through official outlets includes your choice of a standard digital or standard physical copy of 'Hardwired... To Self-Destruct'.

Redemption information will be included in your ticket purchase confirmation email. Full details of how you can gift the album, should you have already purchased, will be given on the redemption page. Please note that shipping and handling fees apply to the physical version of the album.

Metallica has partnered with CID Entertainment to offer three options of special enhanced experiences on this tour, including premium tickets and amenities, early access to the venue, a visit to the 'Memory Remains' exhibit of memorabilia, and meet and greets.

'Hardwired... To Self-Destruct' was released on November 18th 2016 on Metallica's own Blackened Recordings record label and sold over 800,000 copies worldwide in its first week. The album was produced by Greg Fidelman with James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich, and is available in various configurations.